Grammaticalization of Modality in Language Acquisition

1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Giacalone Ramat
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Modal Verbs

The present study aims to provide empirical evidence for a number of claims concerning the grammaticalization of deontic and epistemic modality. It is based on results from a research project on the acquisition of Italian as a second language conventionally called the "Pavia Project". The organization is as follows: first, the relevance of Second Language Acquisition for linguistic theory and — conversely — the relevance of linguistic theory for interpreting results of empirical studies are advocated. Then a theoretical framework is established and the polysemy of modal verbs is presented as an essential issue to the present study. In Section 5 information on research design and subjects is provided and results are discussed. The focus is on the order of emergence of modal distinctions in learner varieties and the types of encoding of modal notions preferred by learners. It will be shown that deontic modality is straightforwardly expressed through modal verbs, while epistemic modality is expressed through a number of different means. Conclusions are drawn, and implications for the study of modality and for principles governing learner languages are assessed.

scholarly journals Processing epistemic modality in a second language: a self-paced reading study

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Mifka-Profozic
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Modal Semantics ◽  
Reading Study

AbstractThe current study brings together two novel perspectives: one is concerned with second language acquisition of complex modal semantics by learners of a Slavic (Croatian) language, and the other relates to online processing of modal auxiliary verbs in L2 English. The study sought to examine how English L2 learners process modal verbs

Linguistic Theory in Second Language Acquisition

Language ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Sara Thomas Rosen ◽  
Suzanne Flynn ◽  
Wayne O'Neil
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Theory

THE ASPECT HYPOTHESIS AND THE ACQUISITION OF L2 PAST MORPHOLOGY IN THE LAST 20 YEARS

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1167
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig ◽  
Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
The Third

AbstractTwenty years ago, a state-of-the-art review in SSLA marked the coming of age of the study of temporality in second language acquisition. This was followed by three monographs on tense and aspect the next year. This article presents a state-of-the-scholarship review of the last 20 years of research addressing the aspect hypothesis (AH) (Andersen, 1991, 2002; Andersen & Shirai, 1994, 1996), the most tested hypothesis in L2 temporality research. The first section of the article gives an overview of the AH and examines its central tenets, and then explores the results of empirical studies that test the hypothesis. The second section considers studies that have investigated four crucial variables in the acquisition of temporality and the testing of the AH. The third section discusses theoretically motivated areas of future research within the framework of the hypothesis.

The value of clitics in non-native Spanish

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juana M. Liceras
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
French And English

One of the tasks of second language acquisition research is to determine the ‘linguistic’ nature of interlanguage systems. To achieve this goal it is mandatory to formulate the properties of learners' grammars in terms of the theoretical constructs proposed by linguistic theory. I have proposed elsewhere (Liceras, 1985) that, permeability, one of those properties, is related to parameter setting. In this paper, it is hypothesized that the location of a given process in the different components of the grammar may also be relevant in the determination of permeability. In the light of conflicting evidence provided by the Spanish interlanguage of French and English speakers with respect to the value of clitics in the non-native grammar, it is suggested that, due to the nature of ‘intake’, L2 learners of Spanish may locate clitics in the lexicon (as affix-like elements) or postlexically (as words in the syntax) rather than giving them a unidimensional value. I have also suggested that non-native clitics may not share all the properties that are assigned to Modern Spanish clitic pronouns.

Prototypical influence in second language acquisition: What now for the Aspect Hypothesis

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin McManus
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Sentence Interpretation

AbstractThis paper presents empirical evidence on the development of aspect by English- and German-speaking university learners of French L2 collected from a spoken narrative task and a sentence interpretation task. Contrary to the Aspect Hypothesis's predictions, this study's results suggest that increased use of prototypical pairings goes in hand with increased L2 proficiency. Following a small but growing number of studies, this study questions the route of L2 development proposed by the Aspect Hypothesis.

Some Theoretical and Pedagogical Implications of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred R. Eckman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Language Universals

This paper is intended as a programmatic contribution to the work of a number of scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) who are attempting to explain various facts about SLA in terms of an interaction between native-language transfer and language universals (Gass & Selinker, 1983). In the present paper, some of the theoretical assumptions and consequences of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) (Eckman, 1977) are discussed in comparison with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis. Crucial differences between the two hypotheses are presented, and empirical evidence in favor of the MDH is reviewed. Pedagogical implications of the MDH are then taken up, and a strategy for interlanguage-intervention is discussed in light of an empirical study. Finally, several problems for the MDH which have been proposed in the literature are considered.

Electrophysiological Approaches to Understanding Second Language Acquisition: A Field Reaching its Potential

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 15-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Morgan-Short
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
First Language ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Implicit Training

The present article provides a review of results from electrophysiological studies of the neurocognition of second language. After a brief introduction to event-related potentials (ERPs), the article explores four sets of findings from recent second language (L2) ERP research. First, longitudinal L2 ERP research has demonstrated that L2 neurocognitive processing changes qualitatively with time. Second, research has shown that L2 learners can evidence nativelike ERP effects for L2 grammatical features that are present in their first language (L1) as well as for features that are unique to their L2 but may have more difficulty processing features that are present in their L1 but that are instantiated differently in their L2. Third, emerging research has revealed that individual differences in ERPs can be accounted for by linguistic and nonlinguistic factors. Finally, recent empirical studies have shown that explicit and implicit training contexts can lead to nativelike ERP effects at high levels of proficiency, but that implicit contexts may lead to the development of a fuller nativelike processing signature, at least for syntactic processing. With continued interdisciplinary approaches and sophisticated research designs, L2 ERP research is only beginning to reach its potential and promises to uniquely inform central questions of second language acquisition.

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